We've put together another list of interesting reads for you this week!
We've all heard of the major Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) like Expedia and Booking.com, and we all know Airbnb, but don't you love it when another player steps up to the plate and takes the industry by surprise? That is exactly what Culture Trip, an online magazine for travel content, just did. Raising $80 million in Series B funding, the travel media startup plans to get in the OTA game by launching an online travel booking function and introducing tours and activities to the mix, similar to Airbnb's Experiences offering. Read the first read to find out more about how Culture Trip is going to bring change to the industry. We know we talk about data a lot, but we're not the only ones! The second read we have for you this week highlights the importance of data to be successful in the hotel industry. Managing your data isn't as daunting as it appears if you effectively use hotel technology to connect your data with solutions. Read the second read to see how hotels can leverage data to their advantage. According to the UNWTO, the demand for international tourism proved to be strong in 2017, from both traditional and emerging markets. With China in the lead as the top tourism spender of 2017, many other emerging and advanced economies also fulled growth of spending on international tourism, which you can read more about in our third read.
Happy reading.
Listicle Platform Culture Trip Raises $80 Million to Build Online Travel Agency
Perhaps it’s a coincidence, but every time content becomes king, economies tend to reach a peak in their economic and investment cycles. So what to make of Culture Trip, an online travel magazine, which said Tuesday it had raised $80 million Series B funding round from investors? The round is one of the biggest-ever financings for a travel media start-up. The goal is to expand the editorial website and mobile app into an online travel agency in summer 2018.
"Data is the new oil" has become a common refrain — one that resonates strongly in the context of hotel performance improvement. To compete efficiently and effectively in today's environment, hoteliers need to get their data houses in order. The problem is that relevant data typically resides in many different silos. In the pursuit of advancing their technology capabilities, hotels have tended to proliferate standalone platforms, function-specific modules and guest-facing apps.
Virtually all source markets reported higher tourism spending in 2017, reflecting continued strong demand for international tourism across all world regions.
Both emerging and advanced economies fuelled growth, led by the United States which spent US$ 12 billion more on travel abroad. China spent US$ 8 billion more, consolidating its leadership as the biggest spender in the world.